The recruitment process is evolving. Finding and hiring top workers, especially those with in-demand skills, has become an expensive and time-consuming task. In 2024, new hiring trends will significantly impact the recruitment process.
These trends will inspire creative methods to attract, shortlist, and hire qualified individuals for jobs in various types of businesses and industries. I’ve rounded up the top 15 key trends that will shape the hiring environment in 2024.
Key Points
- Engaging passive candidates for all role levels is becoming essential.
- DEI metrics and initiatives are critical for attracting top talent, especially among younger generations.
- Investing in automation tools is vital for improving recruiter performance and efficiency.
- Compliance with evolving pay transparency laws is crucial for fair hiring practices and gender-neutral pay.
Hiring Trends in 2024
The following is a round-up of the top 15 hiring trends impacting 2024:
#1. Hybrid Work Model Shows Signs of Decline in 2024
Flexible working gained widespread popularity following the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly one-tenth of the workforce adopting it between 2020 and 2022. This was followed by a 4% increase the following year. However, current data from the Timewise Flexible Jobs Index for 2023 show a small 1% increase, with only 31% of job advertisements specifically stating flexibility.
Major companies such as Google, Apple, and Meta are actively recalling staff to the office, citing worries about productivity, collaboration, and keeping a consistent business culture among remote workers. This move raises concerns about the longevity of flexible work arrangements.
However, the UK’s underway Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act, which takes effect in 2024, permits employees to request modifications to their work patterns twice a year from the first day of employment. Despite a reduction in expedited response timeframes from three months to two, businesses can still deny requests for one of eight permissible reasons.
Read Also: The Evolving Landscape: Top Staffing Industry Trends You Need to Know
This approaching legislation complicates the evolving narrative of flexible working. Organizations must manage the implications of this new legal framework, which raises concerns about the impact on recruitment and staff retention. Will the previously enjoyed convenience and flexibility of remote work become less common as businesses gauge the benefits against perceived drawbacks? The future of flexible working appears to be at a critical point.
#2. Diversity and Inclusion
Global business leaders recognize that a culturally varied workforce promotes innovation, creativity, and profitability.
Currently, barely one in every three recruiters tracks candidate diversity. Diversity metrics—such as the gender or ethnicity of individuals sourced, interviewed, or hired—are rarely used nowadays. However, in 2024, this ratio will change.
According to Eagle Hill Consulting research, 53% of US workers believe diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are important when evaluating a company for employment. A company’s DEI activities are far more crucial for younger workers, with Gen Z at 77% and Millennials at 63%.
Because of the increased interest of candidates in diversity and inclusion, more and more businesses are engaging in diversity recruiting and inclusion efforts. As a result, recruitment agencies will need to focus on implementing innovative candidate evaluation tools that eliminate bias in recruiting and hiring.
#3. Data-Centric Recruiting
Data-driven recruiting is not a new concept. For a long time, recruiters relied on data to make decisions. However, what is changing is the use of advanced technology to make hiring decisions more precise. This has resulted in a change in focus from grades and experience to the candidate’s total personality.
Tactical data, such as time to fill, candidates per hire, and offer acceptance rate, will remain vital for tracking your recruiters’ immediate actions. However, future recruiting will be more focused on strategic metrics that measure the team’s efforts and business outcomes rather than merely their actions. Creating a client’s talent strategy will be just as crucial as implementing it.
#4. Proactive Candidate Engagement
Proactively engaging candidates, the next on my hiring trends list, has long been standard practice when filling C-suite executive jobs, but it was rarely used when hiring for entry-level positions.
However, the situation is changing. According to a LinkedIn survey, 84% of recruiters believe that engaging passive candidates is becoming important in lower and middle-level roles and getting top talent into the funnel.
#5. Branding
Employer branding is very important, and it will only become more so. It is crucial that you position yourself as a company that values and promotes the well-being and development of its recruiters and employees. Even if you only have a team of three or four individuals, it’s time to prioritize their well-being; potential recruiters in 2024 will demand it.
#6. Use of Recruiting Automation
In 2024, more recruiting and hiring firms are turning to automation to ease monotonous tasks and reduce administrative work.
In a study of 2848 recruitment professionals, most believed that investing in improved recruiting tools and technology is the most effective approach to boosting recruiter performance.
Recruiting automation tools allow you to parse resumes, manage candidate and client pipelines, post openings on multiple job sites at the same time, and much more. They also allow you to easily engage candidates at various stages of the hiring process while improving key recruitment metrics such as time to hire and time to submittal.
#7. Gen Z Entering the Workforce
Gen Zers are preparing to enter the workforce in junior-level positions. The primary change they will bring to the recruitment industry is speed; they expect everything to be virtual and fast-paced.
Outdated recruitment practices will be a huge turnoff for them. As a result, recruitment and staffing companies will need to prepare accordingly. Recruitment automation, mobile-optimized application processes, and candidate engagement at all stages of the hiring process will become necessary.
#8. Pay Transparency
Despite the fact that equal pay legislation has been in existence for almost 50 years, the gender pay gap continues to exist. To tackle this, pay transparency has become an increasingly important part of human resources regulation, with several jurisdictions enacting new rules in 2022.
This trend is likely to continue through 2024 and beyond. Various countries, including Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have established pay transparency legislation or regulations. Other nations, particularly the European Union (EU), are implementing similar policies.
A recent research report by Staffing Industry Analysts identified nine different legislative measures related to pay transparency, including access to pay information, requiring employers to disclose individual pay information to employees, advertising salary information in job postings, prohibiting employers from requesting salary history, creating an independent body to provide equal pay certification, requiring enterprises to publish gender and pay information, reg As a result, pay transparency is becoming an increasingly important issue for recruiters to address in order to comply with regulations and promote gender-neutral pay.
#9. Transforming Recruiters into Business Leaders
Currently, recruiters are considered order takers. But no more. In the coming years, recruiting will be increasingly acknowledged as a strategic role. Recruiting leaders and recruiters will be obligated to provide their perspectives, push back, and pave the way forward. This includes connecting with the client’s company goals and advising them on the best way to attain them.
Recruiting will become increasingly creative and sophisticated as work’s most administrative and routine aspects become automated. The focus will be on talent strategy rather than execution. Recruiters will be responsible for anticipating hiring managers’ needs, resolving their issues, and identifying opportunities for them.
#10. Gig Work and Gig Economy
The gig economy is anticipated to rise in popularity as more people seek flexible, project-based work. This will have an impact on how companies approach recruitment and talent. This brings us to the next on this list of hiring trends.
#11. Preparing the Workforce for Generative AI and Automation
A recent IBM report based on a poll of 3,000 global C-suite executives highlights the transformative impact of generative AI and automation on the workforce. According to the survey, 40% of executives expect that a major chunk of the global workforce (about 1.4 billion people) will need to reskill within the next three years. This emphasizes the growing importance of reskilling programs as a strategic recruitment and personnel development approach.
According to the survey, AI recruiting and automation already influence entry-level positions, with 77% of CEOs confirming this. As a result, businesses will likely change their recruitment tactics for entry-level positions, looking for applicants with a mix of technical and soft skills that enable efficient collaboration with AI systems. Furthermore, most executives (87%) see AI as an augmentation tool rather than a replacement, highlighting the need for recruitment methods that find workers who can complement and improve technology.
To prepare for this transformative landscape, IBM recommends a forward-thinking approach that includes redesigning work processes, significant investment in talent development alongside technology adoption, a skills-centric workforce strategy, and empowering employees to pursue meaningful and skill-enhancing tasks as automation becomes more prevalent.
#12. Fear of Recession
In August, the Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the United States fell 0.4% to 105.4. August’s decrease follows a 0.3% drop in July. These figures prompt us to consider the potential consequences for recruitment businesses: Reduced
- Hiring demand: A contracting economy causes a reduction in business expansion plans, resulting in a lower need for new employees.
- Hiring Freezes – Economic instability may cause hiring freezes as a short-term risk mitigation technique, limiting job opportunities.
- Increased Talent Competition: A tighter hiring market heightens competition for top talent. To attract and retain qualified people, recruitment agencies must stand out.
#13. Recruitment Chatbots Are Gaining Traction
As part of the virtual recruiting initiative, recruitment chatbots are being used to interact with job seekers, answer their questions, and lead them through the hiring process.
They are especially popular with multinational organizations that have applicants in different time zones because they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But guess what? Chatbots can answer more than just basic hiring questions.
Companies use chatbots to evaluate applications, schedule interviews, and do background and reference checks. This allows them to screen out unsuitable candidates early in the process.
#14. The Great Resignation Continues
According to a recent PwC survey, the Great Resignation is far from over. As the cost of living rises, more people are looking for higher-paying jobs, with 26% planning to change careers next year, up from 19% last year. This global trend has substantial implications for staffing and recruitment firms.
As employees seek new opportunities, staffing and recruiting companies will experience an increase in demand for their services. With a wider pool of job seekers, agencies will be crucial in connecting skilled individuals with firms trying to fill vacancies. The competition for talented individuals will heat up, prompting agencies to beef up their sourcing tactics and improve their ability to connect people with relevant job openings.
As highlighted by the survey, the need for higher salaries and improved work-life balance will drive staffing and recruiting agencies to engage closely with clients to understand their unique employee value offer. By matching job offerings with candidate expectations, agencies can attract top talent while maintaining a competitive edge in an ever-changing job market.
#15. Transition from Candidate-Driven to Employer-Employee Driven Market
The current trend in the US labour market reflects a fundamental shift in the employer-employee relationship. With rising demand for specialized skill sets and increasing inflation rates, both employees and employers are in a position of influence. Wage growth has accelerated, indicating increasing bargaining leverage for employees. However, economic uncertainty and increased expenses provide employers with additional leverage. Prioritizing retention has become critical in this changing market, with companies understanding the value of flexible work arrangements, raises, incentives, benefits, and training.
Engaging employees on a personal level is becoming an essential component of the employee experience, as only a small percentage of workers are currently fully engaged in their roles. Furthermore, cultivating a healthy corporate culture that emphasizes collaboration and communication is critical in this new dynamic, in which both parties have a major influence on moulding the work environment. By embracing these changes, businesses and employees can build a stronger, mutually beneficial partnership that recognizes and appreciates their efforts.
Here is a FREE checklist that summaries this trends in a sheet for easy assimilation:
Hiring Trends.pdf
What Are the Talent Development Trends in 2024?
In 2024, adopting talent management trends such as personalized learning, remote work optimization, and employee well-being programs can propel your firm to new heights. Businesses that prioritize inclusivity, diversity, and growth can better equip their employees to flourish in an ever-changing world.
What Attracts Talent in 2024?
Maintain flexible working arrangements. Working from home is one of the most sought-after benefits in all industries worldwide, and it can help you retain talent while also attracting a more varied pool of candidates. Not only does it boost productivity, but it also shows that you believe your staff can manage their own schedules.
What Are the Hiring Trends in India in 2024?
The Indian IT sector is predicted to grow by 8-10% in hiring, with a surge in global capabilities centres (GCCs) and a stabilizing global economy. This is a promising turnaround from the decline observed during the global economic recession.
What Is the Outlook for the Staffing Industry in 2024?
SIA estimates that the worldwide staffing business will produce $654 billion in revenue in 2022. With this in mind, the market is anticipated to be worth in the region of $665 billion worldwide in 2024. The US is the world’s largest staffing market, accounting for over one-third of total revenue earned.
What Will Be New in Recruitment in 2024?
In 2024, proactive rather than reactive recruitment will be the norm. Creating and managing talent pipelines even before job openings arise will be a key feature. Recruiters and employers will both engage in skill-based candidate sourcing for positions that they believe will be needed by the organization in the future.
Dive into These Hiring Trends
While recruiting companies experienced a lot of uncertainty in 2023, these 2024 recruitment trends are assisting them in hiring the right individuals to better capitalize on the opportunities that will arise in 2024. Companies are concentrating on proactive engagement, improved screening, flexible workplaces, diversity and inclusion, and data-centric recruiting to gain and keep a competent staff in the face of a general talent shortage.
- Hiring a Bookkeeper: Best Practices & What You Should Know!!!
- HOW TO HIRE EMPLOYEES: 2023 Guide to Hiring an Employee
- HR TECHNOLOGY: Top Companies, Conferences, and Trends
- What Are the Benefits of Hiring an SEO Web Agency?
References
